THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310660
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STAN OLSON, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: FORT MILL, S.C. LENGTH: 49 lines
For the 12th inning Thursday night, the Charlotte Knights trotted out reliever Matt Mantei and his 97 mph fastball.
No problem. Norfolk's Shawn Gilbert turned one of those burners around, ripping it over the leftfield fence to give the Tides a 6-4 International League victory at Knights Castle.
Gilbert's two-run shot finally subdued the stubborn Knights, who came from behind three times before the deciding 12th. The victory lifted the Tides to 29-22 and kept them comfortably atop the West Division.
And it happened like this: With one out in the top of the 12th, Andy Tomberlin worked Mantei for a walk. Then Gilbert drove a 1-0 pitch over the 30-foot fence in left.
Then Pedro Martinez shut down Charlotte in the bottom of the inning, saving the victory for reliever Paul Byrd.
The victory came thanks largely to Gilbert, who as leadoff man is supposed to set the table for the big guys.
``Everybody has a chance to go deep in this park,'' he said. ``I know (Mantei's) got a pretty good fastball. I was just looking for a pitch to hit.''
He hit it, and was mobbed when he returned to the dugout.
``This was a fun game to play in,'' Gilbert said. ``We never gave up, and we got out of a tough bases-loaded, no-out situation in the 11th.''
It was a strange game. It was tied at 2 after nine only because Tomberlin lost a bases-loaded, two-out routine fly to center in the lights in the bottom of the sixth.
Then, Norfolk scored a run in the 10th, only to see Charlotte score one in the bottom half. And in the 11th Norfolk plated a run, but Charlotte matched the Tides again.
The Tides, who play Columbus tonight at 7:15 at Harbor Park, scored first, on Benny Agbayani's home run to left leading off the third inning. Norfolk made it 2-0 in the sixth on Roberto Petagine's RBI double.
In the bottom of the sixth, Norfolk starter Rick Reed allowed a one-out double to left by Kurt Abbott and, after getting a pop-up, walked Jerry Brook.
Reed was replaced by Brian Bark, who walked Billy McMillon to load the bases. Then Bark appeared to have escaped the jam when Erik Johnson lifted a lazy fly to center.
But Tomberlin, who had just entered the game as a defensive replacement, lost the ball in the lights, and it landed perhaps 20 feet away from him. Two runners scored to tie the game.
In the 10th, Knights reliever Jel Adamson retired the first two batters and then yielded a sharp single to Gilbert. Then Jason Hardtke doubled into left-center, and Gilbert scored when Darrell Whitmore bobbled the ball. by CNB